Lucid Moonwolf
by WolvenRose
Summary: The story is mainly about young Remus Lupin, before and at Hogwarts. He'll meet James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew, later on. Hopefully you like it. UPDATE: FOURTH chapter is up!
1. Remus Lupin

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of the characters (Remus Lupin so far). They belong to J.K Rowling, a wonderful author.

**Dedications: **I'd like to dedicate this whole story that I'm going to be writing, to one of my bestest best friends: Eve. And to a few other good friends (you know who you are).

**Remus Lupin's child life**

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_May, twenty-third, 1970_

_Not the best of days really. Mum and Dad are fighting now, and it's nearly nine at night. They've been going on like this for a long time, half an hour I think. I'm not sure why they're fighting...but it dosen't sound good. All I can do is hope that it stops. I can hear Mum screaming from my room. They've been at eachother's throats since last month, nearly thrice a week, and I think it's something bad, really bad._

The young boy felt his hand shaking when he wrote, and eventually had to stop. He was laying down on his bed, with his journal and quill in his hand. His mother had reminded him countless times to not write on his bed, unless he wanted to spill ink on his sheets. The room he was in, was pretty plain, nothing out of the ordinary.

Well, there was the exception of books on shelves all around his room, from random authors, and the themes ranged from Mystery, to Poetry. When you were pretty secluded from the world around you, you had to make do with something, so ten-year old Remus Lupin chose books to explore the outer edges of the world, and the inner heart of souls, through countless books.

Other than the books though, there was a faded green carpet on his wooden floor, that only covered the place next to his bed, and a side-table that lay on the left side of his bed. Remus had a few windows that let the sun shine through, when the curtains weren't down. The size of his room was fairly normal for a boy his age, no bigger than usual. His dresser was at the opposite side of the room from his bed, and it was made out of a cherry red wood, with some papers ontop of it -a collection of Remus' attempts at poetry and drawings-, and a few books as well.

Remus put the top back onto his ink bottle, and placed the bottle, quill, and journal, carefully onto his side-table, before turning over onto his back and staring up at the white ceiling. Taking a deep breath, and after five minutes, he sat up on his bed, and stared at the door. His Mother and Father were still fighting, and he could hear some objects smashing to the ground, and against the wall. Even though he was used to this, the thought of his Mother or Father getting hurt, brought tears to his eyes.

Hopping off of his bed, the boy headed towards his door, just as he heard a door slam, and heavy footsteps heading down the hallway towards his room. Remus froze, and waited.

The doorknob on his door twisted, and the door was flung open. In the doorway, his Father stood, as still as stone, and Remus could hear sobbing a few rooms down. "Where's Moth-" "Get your clothes and suitcase, we're going, Remus," his father said strictly, staring down at his son with a look that said not to ask any questions.

He nodded and turned around, confused, worried, and almost about to burst into tears. He hated the sound of his Mother crying. The door closed, and he could hear footsteps walking back down the hallway, before a scream sounded from his parent's room, and the crying ceased.

Remus was aware of his arms and hands that were shaking uncontrollably, when he realized what his Father had done. Only a few words could kill someone when you were a wizard, and that was what his father was. A full wizard.

Walking over to his dresser, Remus pulled out his clothes, and stuffed them into his suitcase quickly, hearing for the third time, his Father's footsteps coming down the hallway, but passing his room, and walking down the stairs. The boy felt tears stinging his eyes, and he closed the suitcase with a muted snap.

Remus left the case there though, and walked to the door after regaining composure of his shaking legs. He opened the door and walked down the hall that had rooms bordering each side, for guests, until he reached his parent's room.

The sight infront of him made him let out sobs that he had been holding inside him for a long time. What else could he do? His Mother was dead, his Father had killed her with a simple spell, and she had been defenceless, because she was a Muggle, and couldn't do anything to stop the spell.

"Oh, Mother," he whispered, choking on his tears and walking over to her lifeless body that was laying on the ground.

Remus took her cold hand in his own two smaller hands, and lay down next to her on the floor, letting his tears flow down his cheeks quietly. "I hate Father. I wish he was dead, not you, you never did anything to deserve death, Mother," he whispered after a few minutes, with his face turned to look at his Mother's face.

He didn't notice the figure that had stopped infront of the doorway as he had said those words to his Mother's lifeless figure on the ground.

"Hate me, do you?" Mr. Lupin said, and in his tone, the young boy could hear anger, definate anger.

Remus jumped to his feet, letting his Mother's hand fall to the ground in a thump, hearing his Father's voice. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. I-I..." Remus trailed off, and stepped back. Right now was not the best time to get his Father angry.

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Please R/R, don't flame me...it's my first attempt at writing a story mainly about one character, so advice would be nice! Um, and I know it's sorta short, I'll try and make the second chapter longer, hehe. Thanks for reading!


	2. Being Accepted

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of the characters (Remus Lupin so far). They belong to J.K Rowling, a wonderful author.

**Dedications: **I'd like to dedicate this whole story that I'm going to be writing, to one of my bestest best friends: Eve. And to a few other good friends (you know who you are).

**Being Accepted**

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He was cold.

Not only that, but there was a great thunderstorm outside and Remus was purely scared, and tired, and still shocked by his Mother's death.

"The boy hasn't talked since his Mother died....is there something you can do?" he had heard his Father whisper to some strange man when they had first arrived at the Leaky Cauldron.

It was now a few days after they had left their Muggle home, and his Father left him here in this room all day, every day, with someone to look after him, until he came back from where ever he went.

"I'm not sure Thomas, it is still quite early to be worrying about this sort of stuff. He's young, he'll get over it..." The man had whispered back, shrugging.

_Get over it? _What was it with people wanting him to just cheer up and go on? His Dad had talked to plenty of wizards and witches to help him, and he had even hired a kind witch to act like a Mother for him.

That hadn't worked though. Nothing would. He didn't _want _a fake mother. He wanted his real Mother.

Why had his Father killed Mum though? That was what Remus was bothered most by. When he tried asking that question though, his Father silenced him with a yell.

So Remus gave up that option.

He had been punished when they were driving away from home by his Father, half way down the road, so no one would hear him scream. His Father really disliked being hated....by anyone, and especially his only son.

No. I'm not his son. I used to be his son, until I turned into a wolf.

Remus let out a small whimper and stared out of the window, as lightning lit up the almost black sky, and thunder drummed along the clouds, like his Father's bellowing voice. That was why he hated thunderstorms. Just like his Father.

The storm had kept young Remus awake until midnight, and an hour after. He was tired, but whenever he had tried to fall asleep, the bellowing voice of his Father rang through his head, and startled him awake.

If Mother was here then she would make it better. She'd sing to me, and make the voice go away. She always makes scary things go away, the young werewolf thought to himself.

When the storm rolled away, taking its spears of white light with it, and bellowing voices, Remus finally had the chance to fall asleep, gathering the light blanket his father had let him use, and covering his shivering body with it. He lay his head down on the pillow, and fell asleep on the small room's floor, across the room that his Dad was sleeping on, in his warm bed.

It was five hours later that Remus was awakened by violent shaking. At first he thought that it was part of his dream, and had tried to kick the "monster" away.

Unfortunately, the monster was his Father, and he had been kicked in the leg by his son. "You...little-" Thomas gritted his teeth and grabbed Remus by the collar his shirt, nearly throwing him into the wall, but landing short. "You little beast! Why couldn't you just listen to me and stay out of that forest?" he snapped at Remus angrily, before stomping across the room, and walking out, slamming the door behind him.

Remus sat up, rubbing the back of his head and looking around him, not really sure on what had just happened. Apparently his Father had thrown him across the room though, and he had landed here.

It wasn't like Remus wasn't used to his Father reminding him of when he had wandered off into the forest behind their house, and gotten himself turned into "a little beast...creature" (as his Father would say). But it was how he had just thrown him, like that was all he was. A beast. Well what was the point of calling them _were_wolves, if Father was just going to call him a beast all the time?

He wouldn't worry about that now. His Father had gone off to get the _Daily Prophet _and would be back soon. So it was Remus' duty to clean up the room, and make the beds and such.

Often, while Remus was cleaning up, and making the room look nicer, he pretended Mum was here with him, telling him where to put the sheets, and how to make the bed look nice.

It calmed him down a bit, and sometimes Remus thought that she was really there with him, helping him.

After the fifteen minutes that it took to make the bed, and put away the sheets, and clean up last night's dinner that they had eaten in here, he was finally finished with the job.

Father should be back soon, Remus thought to himself, letting out a short sigh and walking over to one of the windows that was in the room. Everything outside was soaking wet, and the weather was very overcast.

He didn't really mind the foggy weather. It sort of matched his mood, actually.

Sighing and leaning his forehead against the glass window, he watched people hurry in and out of the London streets.

"Muggles, they are..."

"How can you tell the difference between muggles and magic folk, Father?"

"Eh? You'll figure it out..I have to get going now. Clean up this mess...."

The previous days's conversation had consisted merely of those words. Only those words. Remus didn't talk much unless he needed to ask a question or something.

The boy still hadn't deciphered the difference between magic folk and muggles, and he really didn't care much now.

The door opened, and Remus was cut short of his thoughts, like a twig being broken in half.

Thomas didn't bother to say thanks.

Remus didn't expect a thank you either.

"Father?" Remus asked quietly, taking his eyes away from the people down in the London streets, and turning to face his Father, who had just closed the small room's door. "Eh? What?" he asked gruffly, carrying the _Daily Prophet _under one arm and a cup of morning coffee in his other hand.

The boy took a step forward, and sat down on the ground, waiting for his Father to set his coffee and paper down on the small round table. He watched his Father carefully, taking his cloak off from his shoulders, and flinging it over onto the bed, after setting his cup of coffee and his daily paper on the table. Getting himself comfortable, Thomas Lupin took a sip from his coffee, and unfolded the paper.

"Father," Remus repeated quietly.

"Hm?" the man replied distractedly, as he was already indulged in a rather interesting article about a few Ministry workers...and blah blah.

A slight smile crossed Remus' lips as he thought for a moment. "My birthday is in a few days, Father. Mother always celebrated it. Are we going to celebrate my birthday this time too?" he asked hopefully. He had the whole plan set out, too. They would celebrate his birthday in here, and Remus would get a present from Mother, and he'd get a present for Mother too. He had always celebrated his birthdays like that. Normally Remus would write a poem for his Mother, and draw a picture for her, which she always kept in her jewelry box.

"Howcome you never have any jewelry in your jewelry box, Mother?"

"I do, Remmy. I do." Here she would open up her jewelry box and show Remus.

"All I see are my pictures and poems...."

"That's the jewelry, Remus. Those are my jewels, my memories of you from when you were a little child, and to now."

"I thought you were supposed to wear jewelry though?"

"I do. I wear your poems in my voice, and in my actions. In my mind I wear your pictures. Jewelery dosen't have to always be worn on the outside, Remmy."

"No. It will cost too much. Besides, your Mother was a fool to celebrate a wolf's birthday. No. Lupin, how does this house look? Do you like it?" Thomas replied, shrugging. He didn't wait for Remus' answer though, and Remus wasn't going to give him an answer either.

"Can I go outside, Father?" Remus asked quietly. "No. Stop asking me questions. The weather is dreadful out there, and you'll get lost in the crowd," his Father muttered, sighing.

As much as Remus didn't want to admit it, his Father was right. The weather was dreadful, and he would most likely get lost in the crowd.

Remus sighed and fiddled around with a pencil that he had found on the streets of London. It was broken in half, and there was no eraser, but he could do without and eraser. "Father? Do we have any paper?" Remus asked, standing up from the ground and looking around for any parchment.

"No, Lupin. We don't have paper anywhere," Thomas answered boredly, still reading his copy of the _Daily Prophet. _

Remus frowned slightly and looked around the room for anything that he could draw on. He tore off the paper/cloth tag from the bed sheet, and sat down again on the ground, with his broken pencil in his right hand, and the tag from the sheets on the ground infront of him, with the back facing up so he could draw on the plain white side of the tag.

The boy immediately began to draw. When he was finished, the picture was barely visible, because the lead of the pencil couldn't show up too clearly on the cloth/paper tag, but the image was clear enough in his young mind.

There were a few flowers on each side and a tree in the middle, with a bird on one of the branches.

He would have drawn more, but there was no room left for him to draw on.

Remus yawned and stood back up, shoving his small drawing in his jeans pocket, before walking over to the window. "Father, can I see the magic world now?" he asked quietly, turning around to face his Father.

"Tomorrow," the man answered absent-mindedly, flipping a page in his newspaper.

_Tomorrow? _Remus repeated in his mind, smiling slightly. He wondered if they were going to stay in this room forever. Or maybe they'd find a house in the wizarding world.

"I'm going out. I'm leaving Marissa here with you today, so be good." After that, Mr. Lupin stood up, drank the rest of his coffee, folded up his paper, and walked out of the room.

Sighing, Remus walked over to the small table, and took out his pencil. He would draw on the table until "Miss Marissa" got here.

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Not too many days later, his Father had found a nice house, and in that time, Remus had seen some of the magic world, and had had as much fun as he could.

So today was now May twenty seventh, of the year 1970, and Remus was eleven years old.

Why didn't Father celebrate my birthday? he thought, as he sat down at the table that afternoon with a cream-coloured parchment infront of him, and his old pencil in his hand. Father had bought him a few pieces of paper to keep him out of the way for a while, while he went and bought the house. Marissa was sick today, so Remus was left with another lady, who was about thirty years older and had a raspy voice. He always had to call her ma'am though, or she wouldn't pay attention to him.

"Mother would keep these in her jewelry box, you see? Every birthday I drew her a picture and wrote her a poem, and she would keep them. Will you do the same, ma'am?" he asked quietly, looking up from his half finished drawing, and over at "Ma'am" who was sitting in one of the room's chairs near the window, reading a book quietly. "Maybe, Remus. I'm a bit busy at the moment though," she answered quietly, looking over at Remus, and giving him a faint smile.

"Ma'am" was Remus' favorite out of the "Mothers" that his Father had hired for him. Even if she wasn't very talkative, she was much older, and knew a lot more than he did, which he liked.

"Your Father is buying you two a house in the wizarding world today, correct?" she asked Remus after a while.

Remus nodded, and continued drawing.

"Has he shown it to you yet?"

Remus shook his head. "Will you come visit me, ma'am?"

She smiled at this. "Maybe, Remus. May I see your drawing?"

"It isn't finished yet," he answered, shrugging.

It wasn't long before Mr. Lupin opened the door to the Leaky Cauldron room that Remus was in, looking very proud of himself. "Pack up, Lupin. We're leaving tomorrow for our new home."

Remus looked up at his Father, blinking. "Can we go back home and bring my books along?" he asked quietly.

"No, stupid. We'd be caught going back there, and the muggles would get suspicous. Now, go pack your stuff," Thomas answered glaring at Remus.

The boy nodded, and got up from his seat, walking over to his suitcase and packing up his clothes and drawings. Ma'am had already left about five minutes earlier, so she wouldn't know about them leaving. He sighed and finished up his packing, closing his suitcase softly, and walked back over to his drawing. He had already written a poem on the back of the paper, and was just finishing up his drawing, as his Father got out his own suitcase and packed up his clothes and other things.

Before the sun fell that night, there was a faint tapping noise at their window, and Remus got up from his chair to see what it was, but his Father got there first. A great barn owl swooped through the open window, and dropped a letter at the place before Remus on the table, covering his drawing. The lettering was very fancy, but Remus could read it with ease.

_**Mr. R. Lupin**_

_**Number six, second floor**_

_**Leaky Cauldron**_

_**Tryley Street**_

_**London**_

That was odd...he never got letters. Remus hadn't had any friends back in the muggle neighborhood he had lived in just a few days earlier. "What's that?" his Father snapped, walking over to him and snatching up his letter. "I got a letter, Father. May I open it?" he asked, looking up at his Father hopefully, as he read the address carefully, and frowned.

"Fine, open it. Don't get your hopes up though," Thomas answered, tossing the letter back to Remus, who caught it, and turned it over, opening up the envelope with care.

He pulled out a piece of parchment that had been folded into thirds, and opened it up first, reading quietly to himself.

_Hogwarts School_

_of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore.

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_

_Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

Remus stopped reading here, and looked up at his father questioningly, who just waved an impatient hand in the direction of Remus' letter. "Read on," he said, which Remus obeyed.

Dear Mr. Lupin,

We are please to inform you that you have been accepted

at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You will

find enclosed a list of all necassary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await you owl by no

later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Minerva McGonagall,

_Deputy Headmistress_

"I've been accepted to a wizarding school?" Remus asked, smiling widely despite himself, as he turned to face his father.

"Not just a wizarding school. One of the best....though I had Headmaster Dippet. I see he must have died, or resigned," his Father muttered, shrugging. "I'd like to see how Dumbledore is going to house a werewolf though..." Thomas muttered, shaking his head.

"May I write back?" Remus asked, almost hesitantly, afraid of his Father yelling at him for being so stupid.

"If it'll keep you off my hands, then fine. Wait until we move into our new home though, would you?"

Remus nodded, and took out another smaller piece of parchment out of the envelope, which included all of the things Remus had to buy for school. "Do we have enough money for all of this?"

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Please R/R, don't flame me...it's my first attempt at writing a story mainly about one character, so advice would be nice! Thanks for reading!


	3. JamesWho?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own...Remus, or James. Boohoo. Mwah, but I /do/ own this fanfic, hah!

**Thanks: **To Eve, and Deleria for reading this, but -not- reviewing. -Coughwinknudges-

**Chapter Three James...Who?**

Not long after they had moved into the new house, Remus was let outside for the rest of the day, and took to wandering around...

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The day they were getting ready to move into their new house, Remus found something very frightening inside their car when they were packing up the suitcases and such.

His Father must have forgotten to clean out the car on the previous night, and so the young lycan found out his Father's secret. It wasn't something that Remus would cry over. No, he could take things with such a calm air about him, that often got his Father irritated.

Remus climbed across the back seats and lay down to look more closely at the car's carpeted floor, so he could make sure that he wasn't seeing things. Maybe....maybe it was just some ketchup or something, after his Father had gone out to dinner last night. Or maybe some red wine. Father liked to drink that a lot.

"Remus! What're you doing there? I need you to go up and get the rest of the stuff," Thomas snapped at him after opening up the side door of the car, and spotting Remus laying down across the seats, examining something on the ground.

Remus quickly sat up, startled slightly to hear his Father from behind him.

"Sorry," he murmured, before hopping out of the car, and hurrying back into the Leaky Cauldron to their room, and to get the rest of their luggage, which wasn't much.

He took the last suitcase, and snatched the room's key from the small table, before walking downstairs, and into the bar. After dropping off the keys to the bartender at the front counter, he walked back outside and into the London streets outside of the Leaky Cauldron, where his Father was standing by their black small car.

"Took you long enough," he snapped at his son, grabbing the last suitcase from Remus, and shoving it into the back of the car, before getting into the front seat and waiting for Remus.

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The neighborhood his Father had picked out, wasn't anything out of the ordinary. There were kids of practically all ages up to eleven (for it was Spring time, and all the other kids would be at Hogwarts still) playing out in their front yards, or even out on the street.

Remus watched the kids in their front lawns, laughing and playing with eachother, with a slight smile on his face. Maybe in the few months that he'd be here, he would have a friend to play with.

Of course, there was the occasionally popping noise as someone apparated, or dissapparated infront of a house, because this wasn't really a muggle neighborhood.

His Father wanted to live away from the Muggles, where people would soon be trying to figure out the death of his wife.

Some kids watched as they pulled into the driveway of their new house, which was painted a crimson red, almost too dark to really be called red. The driveway was newly paved, and the front lawn was like everyone else's, fresh green, with some flowers out in the garden infront of the house.

"Your room will be at the bottom floor. The room you're to transform into is in the adjourning room, got it?" Thomas said abruptly, after he had parked the car, and got out onto the driveway.

Remus nodded silently, before carrying his suitcase into the two-story house. The door was painted golden-yellow, and there were rather fancy-looking glass windows on both sides of the door.

Other than those two windows, there were about three looking out onto the front lawn, and up on the second story, there were two.

Remus waited for his Father to open the door with the key, and then walked inside, looking up and down the hallway that veered off to the left and right. Both ways made sharp turns to either the right, for the left side of the hallway, or the left for the right side of the hallway.

The lycan took the right side down the hallway, after he saw his Father go back to the car to get the second suitcase. The walls were brick, he could tell by the hard feel of them under his smooth palms. The paint that covered the bricks though, was a creamy white, almost yellow, and had to have been painted over more than three times so the bricks didn't show.

The hallway didn't last too long, and soon he had stepped into a large round carpeted room. He guessed it was the living room, because it certainly looked comfortable enough to be one. His Father was going to have a job getting the furniture in here.

The walls in this room were the same creamy white colour as the hallway walls, and the light purple carpet clashed wonderfully with the wall colour.

Remus walked across the room, and saw a door off to his right when he was halfway across the living room. He shrugged and made his way over to the door, before opening it, and being met with a staircase. It went downstairs, though, so he guessed that down there was his bedroom. Closing the door behind him, Remus walked down the wooden staircase. It was dark down here, and the stairs creaked when he stepped on them. There was no way he'd be able to sneak upstairs with these kind of stairs.

When he got to the bottom of the staircase, he could only see a long hallway infront of him, with the walls uncomfortably close. That didn't stop him from making his way towards his room, which he guessed was at the end of the hallway.

Sure enough, after what seemed like forever, he had to stop, because there was a dead end, and at the end, there was a wooden door. To the left of that door, there was a second one, which he guessed was his bedroom. The room infront of him was probably his transforming room.

Remus turned to the left, and stepped aside just a bit, so he could open up the door without getting pinned to the wall. The sight infront of him made Remus gasp.

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Now he was outside, lost in his own thoughts about the house, and his room, and practically everything else that was crammed in his head.

There was a large forest behind their house, and all the other houses that were lined up on the same side as theirs. Today was a Sunday, and his Father had gone out, leaving him to wander around wherever he wanted for the day, all alone. Kids were playing, just like how he saw them when they first came here.

Some of the children who were playing at the houses to the right of his, stopped, seeing Remus exit the house, and waved a hello to him.

He smiled back, and waved hesitantly. Taking a few steps down the front doorsteps, he looked around him quietly. Everyone here was a wizard or witch, or would be soon. They were all born from wizarding families, or half wizarding families at least.

"Hello!" a voice greeted him cheerfully from behind him. Remus nearly jumped, but let out a sigh, and turned around to see who it was. "Er, hi," Remus answered, seeing that the person who greeted him was walking across their lawn, and stopped about three feet away from Remus.

He noticed that the boy's hair was very messy and was a jet-black colour. The boy also had glasses, that were crooked against his face, from either playing, or running. He had a cheerful smile on his face. The clothes he was wearing were pretty simple, just worn out jeans, and a black short-sleeved shirt.

"James Potter," he said, extending a hand to Remus, who smiled slightly and shook the boy's hand. "Remus Lupin," he answered with his own name.

James blinked, and rose a brow after he heard Remus' name. "Odd name. Lupin means wolf, or something like that, right? What's Remus mean?" asked James curiously.

"My Mother named me that. She said I was named after a Roman person who was raised by a wolf...can't really remember the rest of it, though," Remus answered, shrugging. "It's muggle stuff, by the way," he added quickly, seeing James' confused look.

"Oh..I see. Well, want to play? I got a hold of my Dad's wand after he left for work today, so we can cast some magic. I know a few spells," James suggested, smirking mischeviously and taking his Father's wooden wand out of his pocket and showing it to Remus. "Awesome isn't it?"

Remus smiled slightly, and nodded, even though he wanted to say that James would probably get into big trouble. If he did say that...well, he'd not really like to know. James was his only friend, and he'd like to keep it that way, even if it meant not telling him a few things.

"Right then, who should we prank? There's a few boys over there that really got on my nerves..." James trailed off and gestured over to the house across from them, where a few boys were playing. They didn't really seem the nice sort. "Or we could do something to the kids next door to you. They don't seem very friendly either," he added, nodding over to the brother and sister who were tormenting a poor cat out front.

Remus winced, and turned back around to face James. "I don't really mind. You choose," he answered, though he really wanted to see what would happen to his next door neighboors.

James grinned mischeviously, and walked over to the brother and sister, standing right behind them, with Remus right behind James. The two kids looked about their age, maybe a bit younger, but they looked mean enough to intimidate even Remus.

James reached out a hand, and tapped the boy on the shoulder with his father's wand.

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Remus sat on the living room couch, massaging a bruised cheek with one hand, and holding a pack of ice over his left eye.

This was a great way to make new friends, wasn't it? He thought to himself sarcastically.

It was about an hour after James had suggested they go pick on the siblings that lived next door to him.

The boy was much stronger than he looked when he turned around to face James and Remus.

'Whaddya want?' he had asked, as the girl looked up also, and glared at James.

'Why were you hurting that cat?' James asked, gesturing over towards the cat that had run off while the two kids were distracted.

'Why is that any of your business?' he asked, stepped up to James and glaring viciously at him.

James was too proud though, to step away. 'Because he's /my/ cat,' James replied.

'Your cat?' the boy repeated, smirking. 'Then your bloody cat needs to stay out of our yard,' he said.

James clenched his fists. 'He wasn't /doing/ anything to you!' he said angrily.

Remus bit his lip and looked between James and the kid. He knew this was going to end up in some sort of fight.

Well, after James' comment, things started to get really bad...Remus had tried to intervene, but had only gotten a black eye and bruised cheek for that. Father wouldn't really care, though. He doubted his father would even notice when he got home. Remus let out a sigh and stood up from the couch, before walking into the adjourning room, which led to the kitchen. He grabbed an apple from the fruit that had been laid out earlier, on the counter, and headed towards his room.

The only place where he could be alone when his Father was home, actually.

Midnight-blue paint adorned every wall in the room.

A light yellow circle had been painted in the corner of the room, on the right corner. It was shapped like a moon, with the blue around the moon growing lighter.

White stars dotted the sky, and twinkled magically on and off.

In the distance, he could almost hear a wolf howling.

He turned, and choked on his scream. Three feet away from his face, was a giant looking wolf, with gleaming yellow eyes, and black-matted fur. It growled, opened it's maw, showing yellow, long, teeth, before leaping and tackling Remus to the ground.

The room around him had changed...and was now a perfect duplicate of the forest in back of their old house.

The wolf bared it's teeth, and-

Remus let out a strangled cry, and sat up in bed, looking around his room anxiously. "Ju-just a dream," he murmured to himself, shaking his head and getting out of bed.

It was quite dark outside, considering it was about eleven at night. Though the boy had been outside in the dark many-a-time before, this time seemed...different. He rubbed his ice-cold palms together, and glanced up at the sky. There was something wrong. Something was wrong with Dad. What could he do, though? He was only eleven. "Mum, if you can hear me up there, can you let me have a good time at Hogwarts? Please?" His voice came out as a whisper, as he watched the sky with calm golden eyes. The brightest star shone clearly against the midnight-blue sky. "Sirius..."

He let a faint smile slip, and, though he didn't know why, he started to feel considerably better. He was too young to be worrying about life. All he had to do was move on with it, until real troubles came along. Then again, wasn't being a werewolf a real trouble? His mother had always said he'd been too smart sometimes, too mature, maybe.

"Wish you were here, Mum." Remus bit his lip and looked around him. He was being so jealous wasn't he? Being a werewolf meant you couldn't really have true friends...yet that was probably the only thing he wanted. Friends, a nicer family, and...he wanted his father to die.

A choked sob escaped from his throat. He didn't want Dad to leave...he'd been a good father until Remus had turned into a werewolf. It wasn't anyone's fault but his.

"So much for feeling better..." He sniffed and wiped away his tears quickly, before turning around and walking back inside their house quietly.

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Yeah...sorry this chapter is sorta short, compared to my last one. I was being rushed to write the end of it, so I did, finally, finish it. Next chapter you'll be able to see more of James (I think), and Remus'll be going to Hogwarts. Woohoo! Plus, there will be an appearance of dear 'ol Sirius, and -shifty eyes- Peter Pettigrew. Please R/R! And...sorry for any minor spelling errors, as I said, this chapter was done rather hurriedly.


	4. Hogwarts

******Disclaimer: **I don't own any of the characters, blah blah blah. If I /did/ then I probably wouldn't be writing this, y'know?

Anyway, to reply to my reviewers:

**BruisedAngel Thanks for the compliment, and review. -Coughs- Sorreh I didn't reply to this in, like, three chapters. -Laughs nervously-**

**Eveth -Grins- Thankies. And...no, I don't get it enough, one can never have enough compliments...if you've really noticed, heh.**

**Deleria -Huggles- Yay! Thanks a ton for reviewing! -Does happy dance- **

Now, for the story....

**Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

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The weeks went by quickly. The usual transformation interrupting the young lycan's last week of May. Things were normally like this. He woke up one morning to see his room boarded up with silver locks and such. His father always insisted on putting locks on his door, incase he tried to break free.

That night, the transformation from human to werewolf was how it'd always been - uncomfortable.

Remus didn't complain though, never did, really. Even as young as he was, he'd taken his Mother's manners, kind smile, and light brown eyes.

He had his Father's hair, though, and face. That's what Mum said to him, at least. Remus couldn't tell any longer, since he rarely caught a glimpse of his Father without his face being all wrinkled up in frustration or concentration.

"Remus! Time to get out of your room. Full moon's rising!" his Dad called, knocking sharply on his door, before undoing the locks and walking into Remus' room, which was painted an almost midnight-black colour.

The boy stood up, and headed out of the room, past his Father, and into the room right next to his, which was plain. There were no windows, no beds, and silver bars lined the back of the door. Rather gloomy, he thought.

Thomas murmured something under his breath, and closed the door behind the lycan, securely locking the door and turning around, before heading back up to the top floor. Maybe he could fix some tea, read a book, do something to pass the night away.

He stepped out of the dungeons, or basement, and closed the door firmly behind him, locking it also, just incase. Yes, tea and a book, that would be very good.

Remus blinked, and looked around the room, examining it carefully with his eyes, before taking a seat on the floor, and waiting for the transformation to begin....

That night, howls were heard, though none responded. James sat up in his bed, slightly startled as to why he was hearing howling. He slipped out of bed, walked over to his window, pulled back the curtains, and looked up at the sky. Full moon, May thirty-first. His vision adjusted slightly to the dark, and he looked around at all the houses. All the lights were out, everyone seemed to be asleep. Maybe he'd just been dreaming. Then again, he thought, as he got back into bed and stared up at the ceiling. Maybe it wasn't a dream...

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**Three months later....**

"James Potter, nice to meet you."

The platform to train station, nine and three quarters was busy with students on September first, and in all the hustle and bustle, James still managed to introduce himself to some blond-haired kid, who looked as fidgety as a ferret.

James' parents had already said their good-byes, and were now exiting the platform, leaving him to wait for one of his best friend's, who was running a bit late, it seemed.

He looked around, but finally gave up in waiting for Remus and boarded the train, as it was about to leave. Peter Pettigrew followed after him after a few seconds hesitation.

Actually, it wasn't Remus who was late. He'd boarded the train as soon as he got to the platform, in hopes of grabbing a compartment to himself. Fortunately, he had managed to get his own compartment, and was soon joined by James and a smaller kid that he'd never seen before. "Hey, Remus," James greeted his friend, walking into the compartment and taking a seat opposite his friend. "Oh, hey, James," Remus replied, smiling slightly. "Who's this?" he asked, gesturing to Peter, and offering the boy a slight smile.

"Peter Pettigrew. Met him about ten minutes ago," James answered, as Peter took a seat near the window, knawing his lower lip anxiously.

"Nice to meet you, Peter. I'm Remus Lupin," he said, nodding. Peter nodded in response, as it seemed he wasn't capable of doing much else at the time being.

James shrugged, and turned back around to face Remus. "Anyway, howcome you weren't at the platform when I was?" He rose a brow at Remus, waiting for an answer.

"Dad wanted to make sure I was on the train before it left the station," Remus answered quietly, shrugging. "Sorry about that," he added.

"S'all right. Just..." James shrugged, seeing that Remus was watching him with an eyebrow raised.

A few more silent minutes passed, in which Remus read his book, and James tried to make conversation with Peter, before another student burst into their compartment, panting and looking around at the three boys.

James had been startled from his seat nearly, and frowned, seeing the new student. Peter had squeaked when he heard the door open and close quickly. Remus kept reading, and grinned, but glanced up from his book after a few moments.

"Hello, Sirius," he muttered.

The new person to their small group named Sirius, blinked, and looked over at Remus, wondering how he knew his name, because he'd never seen Remus, or any of these others, either. "Er, how d'you know my name?" Sirius asked, taking a seat across from Peter near the window. "Heard someone shouting your name, then heard you running down here and stopping infront of our compartment," Remus replied.

"Oh, well...erm, okay," he replied, blinking and shrugging. James rose a brow at Sirius, and Peter calmed down slightly. "I'm Remus Lupin, by the way. This is James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew," Remus said, gesturing to James and Peter, who nodded and smiled at Sirius. "Sirius, at your service," Sirius said, grinning and nodding to the three boys. "Nice to meet you all, by the way," he added more casually, seeing James start to laugh, and Peter give him an odd look.

"So, who was it that was calling your name? Mum? Dad?" James asked Sirius, grinning.

"Er, no, neither," Sirius replied, frowning slightly. He didn't really like the subject of his family much.

"Sibling?" Remus inquired curiously.

"How about we get off the subject?" Sirius snapped at him, narrowing his eyes at Remus, who held up his hands in a surrendering gesture. James shrugged, and looked over at the door, yawning boredly. "Hey, you guys wonder what house we'll all be sorted into?" he asked, smiling slightly as he turned back around to face Sirius and Remus.

"Probably Slytherin for me," Sirius murmured darkly. Remus cast him a sidelong glance, wondering why he'd say that. James hesitated a moment, but didn't question Sirius' words. "I think I'll land in Gryffindor -no other house would fit me," he said, laughing and looking over at Peter. "How about you, Pete?" he asked, cocking his head to the side as he waited for the boy's reply.

Peter shrugged, and looked down at the palms of his hands. "Probably Hufflepuff," he said quietly, not even sure if he'd really even be sorted into a house at all.

"Right...how about you, Remus?" James asked, turning his head to address Remus. "I'm not sure. Ravenclaw, I suppose," he said, letting a faint smile slip, as he realized that they'd all picked different houses. Sirius and James smirked, as they too, recognized what had happened. "You know what would be real strange? If we were all sorted into the same house," Sirius said, laughing slightly, though inside, he really did want that to happen, and he really wanted it to be Gryffindor House, also.

Though the chances were pretty slim...I mean, his family was pretty much all for Slytherin and pure-blood.

Sirius was torn between his family, and his friends....or, soon-to-be best friends. His family, on one hand, would most likely scold him, and do worse, if he was sorted into Gryffindor. But he'd only see them for the summer, right?

While his friends would be around him for the whole school year...and he'd surely not be able to be around them if they were in Gryffinder, and he, in Slytherin.

"...Sirius? James asked you what sort of candy you like," Remus said, interrupting the boy's thoughts, and jerking his attention over to James, then over at the witch with a trolley of candy.

Sirius smirked, and laughed softly. "I like all sorts of candies, James...'specially the chocolate frogs. I have a collection, y'know, back at home."

James grinned happily, and picked two chocolate frogs (for him and Sirius), a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans -now with paper and wood, flavours-, and a few ice mice for Peter. Remus muttered a thank-you and fished out a few coins, tossing them over to James, before opening up the bag of multi-flavoured beans. James shrugged, and pocketed the coins, then started opening up his chocolate frog package. Sirius followed suit, and Peter began fiddling around with his small box of ice mice, trying to figure out how to open it up.

Remus found a decent-looking (purple) bean, and fingered it carefully, trying to think up all the possible flavours they could make with the colour purple. 'Grape, prunes, raisins...maybe..aren't they, like, brown?' He thought to himself, before realizing that Sirius and James were watching him curiously. He offered a smile, and ate the small, purple bean. "Gah, tastes terrible...like medicine," Remus stated, shaking his head and offering his bag of sweets to Sirius, as he also offered to help Peter open up his box of ice-mice.

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It was dark when the train finally came to a halt, and the students got up from their seats, clambering to the train's doors. By now, the foursome had properly got to know eachother, or...as good as you could within ten or so, hours. Remus had learned that James was an only child, living out on the country with his parents, in a real nice house, and a dog for a pet, that he'd named Poppy.

Sirius hadn't talked much, or...didn't say much about his family, not as much as James had, at least, but he still gave away some information. Like, he liked to prank other kids around his neighborhood, and sit up in his room, with his collection of chains, and other metal things.

Peter was also living with his parents, though they lived in the center of London, so it was pretty hard for him to get much peace. He'd said that his mum liked to take him down to the park often, and just play around on his own. The few friends that the boy had had, were all gone now, either moved, or just stopped being his friend. Remus hadn't participated much in the conversations, and had barely mentioned his family, and if he was pestered too much to do so, he just picked up his book and began to read.

"Hey, look! There's the castle...across that river," Sirius said as they jumped off the train and looked around. James nodded, trying to look over the heads of the older students to get a better look at the castle, but he couldn't see as well down here on the ground, than he could up there at the top of the steps of the train.

Remus and Peter followed the other two raven-haired boys off the train, and tried to stick together, so they wouldn't get mixed up in the crowd. After a few minutes longer, a voice called for all the first years, and so the four boys followed the voice, until they came to stand infront of a giant-sized man.

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**Remember: One review is like a sack of gold I'll give you chocolate if you review! -Dances-**

Er, and sorry for chapter shortness (again, sorreh!), but there wasn't much to do in this chapter...it's just a fill-in chapter, heh.


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